On Ko-fi
Support arrives on Ko-fi, and you draw it down on their terms. The relationship with your supporter sits inside their platform.
Pact · IX
Coming from Ko-fi?
Ko-fi is free on tips, then takes 5% on shop sales, memberships, and commissions unless you pay $12 a month to switch that off. The bigger cost is that the page belongs to Ko-fi. Every supporter you send there arrives on their site instead of yours.
Why creators start there
Ko-fi gets out of your way. You make a page, share the link, and people can tip in one click without creating an account. It bundles memberships, a shop, and commissions too, so plenty of creators run everything from it. That convenience is real, and you are renting it.
Where it starts to pinch
The page lives on Ko-fi, so your relationship with every supporter sits inside someone else's platform. Shop sales, memberships, and commissions carry 5% until you pay the monthly fee that removes it, which means the free plan charges you exactly when you start selling something real. Crypto and pay by mail are not options at all.
What stays the same
You still let people give in a click, with nothing to run. Set a button to buyer pricing and a supporter names their own amount, just like a Ko-fi tip. The part you liked survives the move.
Where the money lives
On your own page
Support runs through your own payment account and lands with you. We log the amount and the status, and nothing else. The supporter is yours.
Why it matters
Your audience is the asset. Keeping it on a page you own means no platform sits between you and the people who pay you.
Weigh it honestly
What you gain
- A tip jar on your own page, not a profile on someone else's site.
- Buyer-chosen amounts, the same pay-what-you-want feel.
- A flat price with 0% taken from what supporters give.
- Crypto and pay-by-mail behind the buy button, which Ko-fi does not offer.
What you give up
- The ready-made Ko-fi profile, and whatever its crowd was bringing you.
- Ko-fi's memberships and commissions in the shape it packages them.
How to make the move
- Create a project and connect your own payment account.
- Add a buyer-priced product for tips, and fixed-price products for anything you sell.
- Paste the button onto the page you want supporters to land on.
- Point your Ko-fi link at that page, and test in test mode.
- Keep the Ko-fi page up while supporters find the new one, then retire it.
Memberships do not move between systems. Existing Ko-fi members keep billing there until they cancel. Invite them to resubscribe through your button before you close the page.
When staying makes sense
If Ko-fi's crowd is bringing you support you would not have found on your own, the cut may be worth paying, and we do not hand you an audience. Ask where your last ten supporters actually came from. If they followed you there, you were paying for something you already had.
Try it before you decide
The free plan is a full sandbox. You get every feature and 50 transactions a month, and we never ask for a card.